Blog

Kathy Benardo explains that there is a range of options in the anonymous/ non-anonymous spectrum. It is not just a single choice between a known egg donor and an anonymous one.

Some egg donor candidates choose to do it more than once: are those donors better picks for you? Kathy Benardo explains why repeat donors are sometimes but not always better.

Kathy Benardo provides some encouragement for recipients who need to use an egg donor after a number of failed IVFs.

The financial and emotion rewards of egg donation make the experience meaningful. Kathy Benardo explains.

Kathy Benardo describes in detail the time commitment required for egg donation.

The second biggest question I get from applicants is will egg donation make me gain weight: the short answer is no!

The number one question donors ask is will egg donation affect their future fertility? In this video Kathy Benardo explains that egg donation does not deplete ovarian reserve.

Since the year 2000, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (“ASRM”) and the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (“SART”) established and maintained a limit on what they considered appropriate donor compensation (amounts more than $5,000 required “justification” and amounts above $10,000 were “not appropriate”). An antitrust lawsuit charging price fixing (Kamakahi v. American Society for Reproductive Medicine) was initiated against the ASRM in 2011 and settled in February 2016; since the ASRM has removed the compensation limits from its ethical guidelines.

We believe that donors should be compensated at a rate higher than the outdated recommendations established many years ago. Accordingly, in February 2016 we have raised our donor compensation to $12,000 for first-time candidates (from $10,000) and to $15,000 for previous donors (from $10,000). NAFG’s own fee structure remains the same.

NAFG has been a member of ASRM and SART since we started in 2006. We have always followed and will continue to follow their ethical guidelines as related to our program.

The American Society for Assisted Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) has now deleted its compensation caps from its ethical guidelines.

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2016/02/03/fertility-industry-group-settles-lawsuit-over-egg-donor-price-caps/?mod=wsj_valettop_email

Now that new freezing techniques have made frozen eggs more viable, doctors and patients are eager to work them, as they offer some time and cost advantages over fresh. However, because a donor egg cycle is so costly, is it not financially practical in most cases for a clinic to do a donor egg cycle on speculation. The costs for the procedures, drugs, and donor compensation are typically more than the selling price of the resulting eggs. So clinics have been working on some creative solutions, which they may enthusiastically pitch to their patients as well as to prospective donors. I would like to make both parties aware of the full implications and motivations of these strategies, so that they can make informed decisions.

DONOR EGG RECIPIENTS: your doctor may encourage you NOT to fertilize all the eggs retrieved from your donor, to avoid the supposed ethical conundrum of left over frozen embryos. I am dubious of this advice, as in my experience, recipients want as many good quality frozen embryos as possible, and would not want to compromise all that time, money, and effort by not fertilizing all their eggs. Any doctor who advises this does not have that state of your conscience in mind: he or she wants to buy any left over frozen eggs from you to sell to his other patients! Most egg donor recipients we work with would rather have frozen embryos than an extra few hundred dollars, although some may appreciate getting some money back.